


Hold Me Tight In Your Arms

by kaijuvenom



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Developing Relationship, Divorced Keiko, F/F, Femslash February, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Valentine's Day Fluff, this is a Miles O'Brien hate account
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29449644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijuvenom/pseuds/kaijuvenom
Summary: Kira comes to visit Keiko on Bajor, knowing that it's Valentine's Day and she's probably lonely. She hasn't planned exactly what to say to her, but all she really knows is that she misses her.Keiko feels the same way.
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Hold Me Tight In Your Arms

**Author's Note:**

> kirako supremacy kirako supremacy kirako supremacy kirako supremacy kirako supremacy kirako supre

Today marked the one-month anniversary since Keiko’s divorce had been finalized. She should be happy, she supposed. Bajor was a beautiful planet, she saw her kids five days a week, and she was in the middle of a fascinating botany project. And she was, she supposed, in the grand scheme of things. Happier than when she’d been living on Deep Space Nine, happier than when she’d been with Miles, but she was lonely. She missed having someone to come home to, someone sleeping in bed with her (not that Miles had slept in her bed much, he was always off working or doing something with Julian). 

To top it all off, it was Valentine’s Day. The only upside was that Bajor didn’t have dangling pink hearts and cupids with bows and arrows accosting her everywhere she went, the way it was on Earth, but it still did nothing to stop the ache of loneliness in her chest. 

She thought about Nerys a lot. Too often for it to be thoughts of innocent friendship. Keiko really hadn’t expected to make any friends on that space station, and she really hadn’t expected to make friends with Major Kira. Especially not after their disagreement regarding the Bajoran religion in schools. But even that seemed so long ago, she’d nearly forgotten about it. Those memories of Nerys had been replaced with other ones, memories of sitting with her in Keiko’s quarters, talking to each other into the early hours of the morning, massaging her shoulders, laying her hand gently across Nerys’ stomach to feel her baby moving, and cooking her a mix of Bajoran and Earth foods—specifically Japanese comfort foods. 

That, Keiko supposed, was the one and only thing she missed about Deep Space Nine; Kira. It was almost entirely due to her that Keiko had ended up making the decision to finally divorce Miles, finally allowing herself to be happy again, or at least happier than she had been. Kira had been there for her, all the times when Miles wasn’t, and she’d been there during their entire divorce process, comforting her when she spiraled late at night, wondering if she’d done the right thing, horrified that she’d be ruining her childrens’ lives. But Keiko hadn’t been able to stand another minute on that station, not even for Nerys. Besides, she visited Bajor often. Not _as_ often as Keiko would like, but often enough. She called, too. But it wasn’t the same as when they’d been living together. 

As if somehow alerted of Keiko’s inner turmoil, the computer buzzed with a communication, indicating it was from Deep Space Nine. Completely unnecessarily, Keiko ran a hand through her hair and smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles on her shirt before answering. “Keiko Ishikawa,” she said, trying not to sound too breathless or excited. 

“Keiko!” Kira’s face popped up on the screen, her hair curlier than usual and falling against her forehead, a telltale sign that she’d gone to sleep without removing her hair product and hadn’t been up long enough to wash it this morning.

“What a pleasant surprise. I was just thinking about you, Nerys.” Keiko smiled, briefly wishing she could reach through the screen and brush a hand through her hair, or maybe wash it for her like she used to. 

“Really?” Kira matched her grin, eyes sparkling with an alertness Keiko wasn't used to seeing on her so early in the morning. “I’ve been thinking about you, too.”

The admittance made Keiko’s heart stutter in her chest. “What’ve you been thinking?” She asked, rather hesitantly. Nerves were bubbling up in her chest for reasons she didn’t want to imagine.

“That it’s about time I come visit you. I’ll be on Bajor for the next two days. My shuttle is leaving this afternoon. Sorry for the short notice, but Sisko is making me take some days off. Apparently I haven’t had one in two years.”

Keiko’s smile widened. “You can stay here,” she said automatically. “If you want, that is.”

“I’d love to.”

********

It wasn’t _technically_ a lie. Captain Sisko had in fact alerted Kira that she had several weeks of vacation days she’d neglected to take over the past two years, but she doubted he’d actually expected Kira to take advantage of said vacation days. And she hadn’t been planning to; not until she’d been bombarded by Valentine’s Day decorations when she’d entered sickbay with a migraine. Apparently, it was Julian’s favorite holiday. 

She hadn’t paid much attention to human holidays in the past, but seeing the decorations now had reminded her of last year, when Keiko and Miles were only just beginning to talk about a divorce. Keiko had been in her quarters, carefully arranging a bouquet of beautiful red and pink flowers Kira remembered were roses, and the look on her face had been one of pure loneliness. 

Keiko was alone on Bajor, and Kira couldn’t imagine how lonely she’d be there, so of course she wanted to visit. She brought roses, Julian had told her they were a traditional Valentine’s gift (along with chocolates, which Kira had entirely forgotten to get before leaving). The entire shuttle ride there, she was nervous. Which was ridiculous, because Keiko was one of Kira’s closest friends, and no matter how Keiko took the gift of roses, they would work it out. Everything would be alright. If it really ended that badly, Kira supposed she could play off a cultural misunderstanding of Valentine’s Day, pretending she hadn’t meant anything with the roses. 

Friendships had always come easy to Kira, romances, not so much. In fact, most of her relationships began as friends, and she was left feeling disconcerted and confused when the other person wanted something _more_ than what they already had. This time, however, _she_ would be the one initiating it, and she could only hope Keiko wouldn’t feel disconcerted or confused. Not after all the time they’d spent together, all the hours, the kind words and the massages and freshly cooked meals Keiko had spent so much time on, even when her marriage was shaky at best and she had a child to take care of as well. It couldn’t _all_ have been out of platonic love. 

Keiko’s house was small, really more of a cottage, surrounded on all sides by a lush garden with flowers from all over the Quadrant, and there was a large greenhouse in the back. Kira remembered from the last time she’d visited that Keiko grew some of her favorite plants in there, primarily succulents that she crossbred. Before Kira could ring the chime on the front door, Molly came running out from behind the house, cartwheeling across the path before she spotted Kira. 

“Aunt Nerys!” She ran towards her and practically tackled Kira in a hug, much stronger than she would expect from a seven-year old. 

Kira knelt down to hug her, gently kissing the top of her head. “I miss you on DS9,” she said, rubbing a smudge of dirt off of Molly’s cheek. “It’s lonely without you.”

“Mom says it’s lonely here without you,” Molly replied, grinning at her and showing a missing front tooth.

“You and your brother aren’t keeping her company?” 

“We are! But we miss you. You should come here and live with us again.”

Kira laughed, carefully plucking a rose out of the bouquet she was holding and tucking it behind Molly’s ear. “I’d love that,” she said, “but for now, I’m just here to visit.”

“Mom is in the greenhouse with Kirayoshi. She’s getting a _surprise_ for you.”

“A surprise?” Kira repeated, taking Molly’s hand and letting her lead her towards the greenhouse. 

Molly let go of Kira’s hand to run the rest of the way to the greenhouse and pulled the door open. “Mom! Aunt Nerys is here! She brought flowers, too!”

Well, so much for the surprise, Kira thought, smiling to herself. 

Kira stopped in the doorway and watched Keiko turn around, balancing Kirayoshi on her hip, and holding a potted plant, one Kira couldn’t name, it was likely one of Keiko’s experimental succulents. Its shape was reminiscent of a Bajoran lilac, but the petals were wide and rubbery, like that of a succulent, and the leaves were a deep red color. It was beautiful.

“Nerys!” Keiko carefully set down the plant and held out her free arm to hug her, which Kira immediately acquiesced to. 

“Hi,” Kira said after they’d pulled away, and her face flushed as she held out the bouquet of roses, and she wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment and nervousness or the heat of the greenhouse. “I brought these for you. Um, happy Valentine’s Day.” 

For a moment, Keiko stared at the bouquet in silence, her mouth slightly open, before she reached out and took the bouquet, their fingers brushing together briefly. 

“Thank you. I-” she paused, turning her head towards the potted plant. “I got you something, too.”

“Here.” Kira reached out and took Kirayoshi from Keiko, saying hello to him as Keiko pulled a vase from a shelf and filled it with water from her watering can, placing the bouquet inside it and admiring it. 

“These are beautiful,” she said. “The florist on Deep Space Nine is so talented, it was almost enough to make me stay,” she joked, before reaching over and picking up the potted plant again. “This is for you. I grew it myself. I don’t have a name for it yet, but…” she shrugged. “I thought you might like it. I crossbred a type of Bajoran lilac with a white rose succulent and a Ti plant.”

“It’s beautiful,” Kira said immediately, watching Keiko gently move her fingers across one of its leaves, brushing off some dirt, before looking up to Keiko’s face and meeting her eyes. “Thank you.” It really was gorgeous, and Kira resisted the urge to say something cheesy like, _almost as beautiful as you._

“Why don’t you come inside with me, I’ve been out here for over an hour and the heat’s starting to get to me,” Keiko said, picking up the flower vase and pushing open the greenhouse door. Molly ran out first, saying something about fresh strawberry lemonade. 

Now that Keiko had pointed it out, Kira noticed the droplets of sweat on Keiko’s forehead, the way her hair was slightly curled at the ends from the moisture and humidity. Again, Kira resisted telling Keiko how beautiful she was.

Keiko placed the vase of roses in the center of her kitchen table, and paused to stare at it for a moment before turning away, pulling some glasses out of a cupboard and letting Molly pour lemonade into them, which she did, with minimal spilling.

“It’s been a while since you’ve been back on Bajor, hasn’t it?” Keiko asked, and Kira took a moment to answer, never too great with small talk. She set Kirayoshi down and he wandered into the living room to find Molly.

“Yeah. I’ve missed it. But I, uh, missed you, too. I keep a few plants in my quarters now, you were always telling me it seemed so empty, and they… remind me of you.”

Keiko smiled into her lemonade glass. “I’m glad something I said finally stuck with you. You’re always so stubborn.”

“I am _not!”_ Kira argued, laughing lightly when Keiko gave her a look. “Maybe a little, but I prefer _assertive.”_

“Fine. You’re extremely _assertive._ So much so that it took you almost a full month to let me give you a shoulder massage.”

“Okay, that’s different,” Kira said, waving her hand. 

“Why?”

“Because…” she hesitated, “you were married. It didn’t feel right.”

Keiko’s eyes were sparkling, whether with amusement of mischievousness, Kira wasn’t sure, and she forced herself to look away so as not to risk blurting out something embarrassing. 

“I’m not married now,” Keiko said. It was something they both knew, obviously, Kira had been there throughout the entirety of Keiko’s divorce, comforting her and helping in any way she could. She’d even helped Keiko get this house, finding the best location for her plants and with the most room for a large greenhouse and garden. 

But Keiko not being married was never something they said out loud, maybe because it made this thing that they didn’t quite have all the more real, and it made their friendship into something much more, something Kira desperately wanted but was never quite sure what to say to initiate that change. 

She watched Yoshi and Molly play in the living room, sitting across from each other. Currently, Molly was attempting to make Kirayoshi understand the intricacies of the elaborate plotline she’d created for her dolls, and Yoshi was much more interested in trying to put the toys in his mouth than anything else. 

“Did you like the flowers?” Kira eventually asked, to break the silence that had settled over them like a heavy blanket. 

“I said I did. They’re beautiful,” Keiko said, blinking at her, confusion evident in her expression. 

“No, I mean…” Kira sighed, gesturing with the hand that wasn’t holding her lemonade glass, “I mean… did you like… the fact that I got you flowers for Valentine’s Day?” 

Keiko opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Kira spoke again, unable to stay quiet. “Because I like you. I have for a long time. I never said anything, because, well, you were married, obviously, but now-” _Now you’re not married, and I’m still here. And I can be everything Miles wasn’t, because I love you._

“I like you,” Keiko said, before Kira could say anything else, not that she had anything else planned. She hadn’t even planned what she was going to say to Keiko, which, in hindsight, perhaps she should have. It would’ve made the whole ‘Valentine’s Day confession’ all that more romantic, she supposed. 

Stepping to the side, Keiko set her glass on the table and took one of Kira’s hands, lacing their fingers together, before looking up at her face, staring into her eyes. 

“And I don’t want to say that the reason Miles and I divorced is because I was in love with you, because G-d knows we had a hundred other problems, and I don’t even think that one would make the list. But… I do care about you, Nerys. I miss having you around, seeing you every day, I miss the way you would always ask me questions about my botanical experiments and pretend to understand what I was saying. I miss _you.”_

“I… I feel the same way,” Kira said, her mouth going dry as she stared into Keiko’s eyes. 

They both leaned forward at the same instant, lips meeting for just a moment, a short, chaste kiss that more of lips brushing against each other for only a second before they pulled away. 

“Want to help me make dinner?” Keiko asked quietly, squeezing Kira’s hand briefly before letting go. 

“Absolutely. But you know I’m terrible at cooking.”

Keiko laughed. “I’m putting you on vegetable chopping duty. There’s hardly a way to mess that up.” 

Matching her smile, Kira followed her to the kitchen counter. “There’s _always_ a way.”

“You do always seem to come up with new ways to surprise me.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kaijuvenom)   
>  [Tumblr](https://kaijuvenom.tumblr.com/)   
> 


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